Chicken Hearts for a treat?

There is a farmer's market that sells containers of chicken hearts. I provide a diet of rotating different wet brands, mostly grain free, along with Ideal Balance dry kitten food for free feeding.

Would like to add in raw, but do not have the means/time/energy to do it with a grinder. So... what about chicken hearts as a treat? Are they safe without grinding? Would rinsing them be advised? (One idea I have is to rinse in a solution of food grade hydrogen peroxide - i.e. a food safe antibacterial substance.)

Would they be given whole or cut up? Just want to see if they like them for a treat.

Chicken hearts are a great treat. I am not sure what you mean by "safe without grinding?" if you are referring to bacterial contamination, they are safer since they are less processed. You can rinse them although most of us raw feeders don't. Especially at first, it would be a good idea to cut the hearts up. Your cats may not recognize whole hearts as food.

My chicken hearts are arriving today (woo!) and I plan to cut them up and rinse them under running water for a bit (just like rinsing fruits) before tossing it to kitty.

vball91 said:

Chicken hearts are a great treat. I am not sure what you mean by "safe without grinding?" if you are referring to bacterial contamination, they are safer since they are less processed. You can rinse them although most of us raw feeders don't. Especially at first, it would be a good idea to cut the hearts up. Your cats may not recognize whole hearts as food.

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That cracked me up because the spunky little Ginger (Jessie) sees almost ANYTHING on the kitchen floor as potential food (bits of paper, onion skin, plastic) - so I have to be on my guard. Both of them know the word "treat," although Artemis* responds more enthusiastically to the word (like kitty radar) - so that's what I'll call them! Of course they'll be in a dish unlike some kitty treats I just drop onto the floor - come to think of it... I think I will stop that - I can see it would encourage them to go into vacuum mode for anything on that floor. Whew - this has been a self learning lesson.

Next time at the Farmers market I'll pick some up.

*I have a coffee table where half of it has a glass top with a display area underneath. They sometimes play "cat under glass." One night I called out "TREAT" and I heard a bang and realized he must have been under the glass and in his enthusiasm to come, tried to sit up (not enough room) before running to the kitchen. I knew he wasn't hurt and it had me rolling in laughter.

Hearts are a great treat, and at the farmer's market, should be fresher than you'd find in the grocery store. And perhaps the chickens better fed. They have lots of taurine, not to mention protein. (If weight is a consideration, you can trim off the visible fat.)

Oh well, even with me calling out "treat" and cutting it up into pieces and warmed to room temperature they totally rejected them. Glad I didn't buy a lot (buy by the pound at the famer's market).

So strange, some days they just totally reject food that they scarfed down a day or two before. As kittens, I hate to dump it because of their growing bodies... but I do. Fortunately they seem to still munch on the Ideal Balance dry food so they aren't starving themselves.

As an aside, I *think* I read somewhere on these Forums that chicken heart contains a relatively high amount of sodium. Just something to keep in the back of your mind.

I'm guessing, what treat isn't? LOL